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This magnificent stone and mother-of-pearl mosaic depicting the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, after the mosaic portrait in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, circa 546 AD, comes from the studio of Carlo Signorini of Ravenna, Italy, and is believed to date from the 1960s or 1970s. It measures 27.75" by 21.25" (70.5 by 54 cm). Carlo was the son of Renato Signorini, headmaster and innovative mosaic artist at the Academy of Arts' Mosaic School. Founder of the Ravenna style, he invented a new technique while trying to recover the technique used by the Ravenna mosaic artists of the 5th and 6th centuries that can be seen in the city's mausoleums and churches. In this technique, the marble and smalt tesserae (pieces of colored glass) were laid down on different angles so that the reflected light off the surface changes throughout the day. Carlo Signorini, Renato's third son, assisted his father for twenty years and then carried on with the family tradition with his studio "Il Mosaico" which gained an international recognition. Notable artists who trained under Carlo iclude Giovanna Galli, Marco de Luca, Verdiano Marzi, Francesca Fabbri, Felice Nittolo, Sandro Pocaterra, Paolo Racagni, and Giulio Babini. (Source: MosaiqueMagazine.eu.)